All of the light fixtures in our house have a copper patina finish. It’s interesting, because they actually get uglier when you dust them. The finish is unpleasant in every room in the house, but paired with the silver faucets and accessories in the bathroom it was downright unsightly. I forgot to take a before photo until I was already removing the fixture from the wall, so please forgive the bad picture.
We spent a few days browsing light fixtures and realized that we would spend about $100 to get the same look in a different finish, so we did what any sensible person would do and spray painted it.
After shutting off the power and disconnecting the wires, we were left with this.
We carefully taped off the part of the fixture that house the light bulbs.
After just one coat of Kilz and a few light coats of spray paint, the fixture was looking a hundred times better.
I have to be honest: I love it. It really goes with the light and airy vibe that we’re hoping to achieve in our new space. Plus, the picture shows what else we’ve been doing for the past two days. Things are starting to come together beautifully.
I think the best part of this project is that I was playing electrician/painter while Peter was cooking for a party. I guess we’re not the most traditional couple. He was excited because he got to try new things in the kitchen and I was excited because I got to learn how to connect all the wires. Win-Win.
So, what do you think? I was a little apprehensive about using something flammable to paint a light fixture, but after looking into it more and testing the temperature of the fixture when it’s warm, it should be fine.
Peter and I have been casually looking for coat hooks to help reduce the piles of coats that we inevitably throw over the back of chairs or leave on the couch. In our search, I found a simple row of mounted coat hooks at Home Depot. The board and its color mimicked the lines and color of the trim in our house but it was obviously different. Wanting to avoid the I-tried-to-match-and-failed look, we decided to keep looking. Soon after an idea magically appeared in the inbox of my email account via Martha Stewart’s Organizing Tip of the Day. Martha recommended using mailboxes with magazine hooks to hang your hooks and hold your accessories. We found the mailboxes at Home Depot for $13.99 each. After grabbing a can of Kilz and a can of spray paint we were ready to begin!
Here is one of the mailboxes after priming it. We were originally planning on painting them white but after seeing them primed we decided we needed something with a bit more color.
We chose Krylon’s Indoor/Outdoor Paint in Celery. I love the way it turned out. I think the color looks really nice against our walls.
Before mounting the mailboxes we attached the magazine hooks. I’m not the greatest spray painter, so painting their small curved surfaces was a bit of a challenge. I skimped on the parts that you can’t see when they’re hanging up, but the end result looks great. To attach the magazine hooks you simply insert the hooked end through the bottom of the mailbox and bring it through the opening in the back.
Once the hook shows through, you pull it downward to lock it firmly into place.
Here is the end result. We decided to stagger the mailboxes to give them visual interest. The added bonus is that the taller one is perfect for Peter to drop his wallet and keys into and the shorter of the two works great for me.
So, what do your coat hooks look like? Do you have an eclectic array of Anthropologie hooks or did you manage to find some awesome vintage coat rack? Maybe coat hooks are something that you never bothered with. Let us know!
